Formula 1 Pilots – Are there maximum weight and height limits to be a driver?

As it happens for age, there are no weight and height limits to be a Formula 1 Driver. Nonetheless, one should notice that a Formula 1 car’s cockpit opening must comply with strict specifications. The cockpit must meet numerous requirements. One of them requires that a driver must be able to get in and out of the car without removing anything other than its steering wheel.

Once strapped into the car with all his safety gear on, he must be able to remove the steering wheel and get out within five seconds, and then replace the steering within a further five seconds.

Furthermore, F1 cars have a minimum weight of 640 Kg including the pilot’s weight. So, no limits exist but some rules force the pilots to be in shape and not to be heavyweights if they do not want the car to underperform due to ‘excessive ballast’. The ‘good’ news for heavier pilots is that, on average, in a F1 race a pilot loses 3 Kg since physical endurance and effort required to drive a Formula One race is not dissimilar to that required to run a marathon.